On Your Side Alert: Warning about Scam Calls from “911”

2015-09-04T16:04:00Z2015-09-07T10:52:28Z

(WWBT) -

If you have a phone, you could be the victim of this next deception. Crooks are calling people not only claiming to be with the police, but the Caller ID is also manipulated so that 9-1-1 shows up on your display.

Instead of a person, what she heard was a threatening recording. "The recording said you have been identified as having fraudulent activity and you will be arrested. You need to call the Attorney General's office. Well, immediately I knew it was a scam," McCullough explained.

She knew right away the call wasn't legit but she fears others may fall for it and called 12 to warn others. "I think some of your older citizens may, or someone who is in trouble may. They may owe some money and think, oh my goodness, they have caught me," she says.

This 9-1-1 scheme is popping up across the country. The crooks try to get you to call a number, they claim is for your Attorney General's Office; that number is fake. The fraudulent callers hope they can scare you into giving up your money and personal information.

"We work to have an earnest living and it is just sad that people feel the only way they can get money is to take advantage of others," McCullough says.

The police will never call threatening you with arrest or asking you to pay them money. The quickest action you can take to protect yourself from being a victim, is just hang up. If you get one of these fraudulent calls, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission or to the Attorney General's Office.